NICOTERO TALKS LAND OF THE DEAD

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NICOTERO TALKS LAND OF THE DEAD

At the just-concluded Horrorfind Weekend in Maryland, Fango spoke to makeup master Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX, who is gearing up for the Toronto shoot this fall of George Romero's eagerly anticipated LAND OF THE DEAD. The artist reveals that among the cast will be a familiar face from the zombie series, as well as a pair of hot newcomers to the ghoul subgenre.

'We just did life casts on Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, who are in the States now promoting SHAUN OF THE DEAD,' Nicotero reveals; Wright directed, Pegg stars in and the two co-wrote the red-hot zombie comedy, which opens September 24 from Rogue Pictures. 'I've been blessed to become friends with them; they've invited me to numerous screenings of SHAUN, and for me to be able to sit next to Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino and David Carradine and watch the film, and see the response everyone has to it?it's absolutely my favorite film of the year. These guys are fans, and they've made a movie that I'm proud to have seen, and I'm proud to know them.

'So when they were in LA last week, I said, 'Guys, come on up, we'll cast your faces and do zombie makeups on you guys. And they were so excited. Simon is a huge Bub [from DAY OF THE DEAD] fan, and in SHAUN he references Bub in some of the little character traits he throws in. So I thought, 'We'll have to do a sort of Bub makeup on Simon just as a little in-joke for the fans. The plan is that they're going to come up to Toronto and do cameos.'

With KNB heading up the zombie creation for LAND, what of the artist who made his name on DAWN and DAY OF THE DEAD? 'A lot of people have asked me, 'How do you feel about Tom Savini's involvement in the film--he's not working on the effects, is that going to be a problem?' ' Nicotero relates. 'To be honest, George and I had that conversation, and George said, 'How do we get Tom involved? I want him involved in this project.' I said, 'Tom's an actor, and I'm sure that he would be happier to have a role in the film and let the effects work go to us.' And George said, 'Great, that's brilliant.' Everybody's going to expect Tom Savini to be a part of this film--as did I, and as far as I understand, he's going to have an acting role in LAND OF THE DEAD. And not just a cameo--though Tom and I have joked around that it would be cool if [Savini's character] Blade from DAWN OF THE DEAD was walking around in the background as a zombie. But Tom is going to play a part in the film, so the fans will get to see him as part of a new George Romero zombie movie.'

Look for more of Fango's conversation with Nicotero in a feature story later this week.

Courtesy of Fangoria

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